hi I'm Robyn Barnes with the professional ski instructors of America
Alpine team I'm going to share with you some details about putting on your skis
and boots that just might make your day a little bit more comfortable and
therefore easier
okay so warm boots and the best locks to wear skiing I like to start my day with
a warm ski boot so if you rent it away from the mountain make sure you don't
leave it in your trunk overnight bring it into your house or condo and carry it
up to the mountain with you so that you start the day with a warm one if you
rent your boots at the mountain go ahead and bring it into the lodge while you go
around and get your lyft passes and sign up for your lessons just so that it's
warm when you start your day the other thing that's really important is the
socks that you wear I like to put my ski socks on right before I put my ski boots
on that way I haven't driven to the resort had breakfast and whatnot in my
socks and in putting on a little bit of a sweaty sock before I start my day if I
start the day with the dry my feet are gonna stay warm or longer it's nice to
have a ski sock if you don't have a ski sock a dress sock will work something
that's maybe a synthetic fiber or wool versus cotton and that doesn't have like
a hiking sock ribbing along the besides of it that could create circulation
issues so go ahead and put your ski sock on and pull it up nice and snugly if
there's wrinkles or seams inside of the boot over the course of the day I could
create blisters or circulation issues so pull it up nice and tightly have a warm
boot and you'll set yourself up for success okay so putting on your ski boot
should be pretty simple but take your time going into it just go ahead and
make sure all the buckles are undone on the boot the velcro strap if there is
one it's called a power strap and then put the boot flat on the floor pull the
tongue open so there's a little extra space in there and that'll open the
plastic shell part and then just slide your foot into it pull the tongue out to
the side your foot will slide right in once you've gone ahead and slide your
foot into the boot take a couple of minutes just to make sure that the
tongue is seated right in between the two sides of the liner of the boot so
that it doesn't get doesn't get caught and doesn't make the boot uncomfortable
then the upper cuff of the boot make sure the side without the buckles is
underneath and then put the buckle side over top sometimes they have a tendency
to kind of get crisscross like that which make the boot perform a little bit
strangely so again part without the buckles goes underneath and go ahead and
buckle some boots have three buckles some have four it doesn't really matter
just buckle the boots kind of loosely and go ahead and just stand up and flex
the boot a little bit flex your knee forwards and that'll make sure your heel
goes back into the back of the boot you can wiggle your toes
that feels pretty good go ahead and sit back down again and just cinch these top
two buckles up a little bit tighter and put the strap through the little loop if
your boot has one if it doesn't don't worry about it some do some don't and
then if you buckle these nice and snug it will kind of pull your heel and lock
your heel back and give you a great stance for skiing these two buckles are
over the front of the foot we don't need to buckle them super tightly there's
some nerves that go across of the top of the foot and we want to make sure we
don't cut off circulation or create pins and needles feeling so they can have a
little bit of tension on the buckles but you don't want to have them too tight so
that feels like it's on pretty well then I want to take whatever my base layer is
and just either fold it up on top of the boot or over overtop of it this way but
I don't want to have it tucked inside of my boot
again I don't want to have seams things like that the create blisters or
uncomfortable spots and then this powder cuff that a lot of ski pants have
despite a lot of people think it should go inside of the boot what it's designed
to do is go over the top of your boot on the outside to prevent any moisture or
snow from going inside flow your ski pants over top of it let's take the
other boot on and then you'll be good to go so you made it out onto the snow and
now's the time to click into your skis and put them on so this is the break of
the ski usually one is above the other just slide that one up and the skis will
come apart pretty nice and easily go ahead and just drop them down on the
snow one beside the other facing forwards and then I like to just stand
over and state'll the ski I'm going to put on so you want to just make sure
there's no snow caked in your binding otherwise it'll be hard to put on and
also make sure that the bottom of your boot doesn't have snow caked on the
bottom of it the best way to do that is just like you would scrape the mud off
your shoe before you walked in your house if you're out playing outside just
scrape the toes scrape the heel and then I'm just gonna slide the front of my
boot in the front of my binding just slide it forwards turn around and take a
pick up my heel when it looks like it's lined up boom press down and I'm in say
anything with the other foot boot is clear of snow toe goes in I turn around
and look at my heel and click on it and I'm ready to go skiing when it's time to
take your skis off just turn around look at the back part
of the binding stick the ski pole against it and press kind of down and
back simultaneously that'll open it up and you can go ahead and take your ski
boot out once you have a free boot if you want to just step down use your ski
boot or your ski poles either way and we'll get you out of your bindings so
sometimes when we're skiing we crash or we fall when that happens if you ever
find that this card is yours binding is popped up simply press down on it with
your hand that'll open it up and then you can go ahead and stick your boot in
it again so you're coming in after a great day of skiing on the slopes it's
time to take your ski boots off so we're basically gonna reverse the whole
process pull your ski pant leg up out of the way the powder cuff pull it out from
the boot get your base layer out of the way if your boot has one of these velcro
straps go ahead and peel the velcro strap back and scoot it out of the way
and go ahead and completely unbuckle all of the buckles kind of scooch them off
to the side so they don't get caught and rebuttal themselves and then pull your
foot right underneath you sort of press on the back of the boot knee goes
forward and your foot should slide out pretty simply there we go voila
especially if you're gonna skeet tomorrow you want to make sure that your
boots get warm overnight so bring them into your house place them near your
heater certainly not too close to a fireplace but someplace real it'll dry
out properly for the next day your feet again are warm and comfortable if you do
have these power straps on your boot a pretty cool feature is you can line the
velcro of the straps up kind of stick one boot to the other boot or one strap
and voila you have a great easy way to carry your boots you can carry them in
your hands sling them over your shoulder so your
hands are free to carry the rest of your gear for more tips and to learn more
about skiing and snowboarding check out our articles and videos I really look
forward to seeing you out there